The 2011 BMW X5 xDrive35i has been nominated as a potential 2011 Motor Trend Sport Utility Car of the Year. Calling the X5 one of the fastest, most sporting SUVs they have ever tested, here's what else they had to say in nominating the X5 as a potential winner:

Quote:

The BMW X5 is quite a brilliant machine, one of the fastest, most sporting SUVs we've ever tested.

Let's look at what's new. Under the hood sits BMW's new-for-last year, 3.0-liter twin scroll turbo inline-six. Like the twin-turbo 3.0-liter straight-six this engine replaces, the single-turbo'd mill produces 300 horsepower and 300 pound feet of torque. Tiny sidebar time: For those wondering what exactly a twin-scroll turbo is, instead of exhaust gasses entering the scroll through a single inlet, each exhaust header blows spent gasses into the snail, hitting the impeller in two places, i.e. twin-scroll.

Aside from the engine, the other big new feature is the X5's eight-speed transmission. It's the same eight-speed unit found in the 7 Series and the 5 Series. Just like the twin-scroll six, this tech isn't bespoke to the X5, but rather is being implemented across the BMW range. Just like in BMW's sport and luxury sedans, the new-for-2011 eight-speed works excellently, providing both cream-smooth shifts and lots of overhead for leisurely highway cruising. There's also a bit of new sheetmetal on the nose and tail, but you'd have to be the biggest BMW fanboy this side of Bavaria to notice.

What does all this change add up to? One very impressive performance SUV, that's what.

That and it is such a low volume niche vehicle, they SUV of the year is always the volume models that most people buy, the X5M might be better in every way, but would loose based on price etc, it would belong in a test of 100K performance SUV's.